NBA Week 4 Rewind: Warriors remain historically dominant

The Key Games and Results of Week 4

As we wait for a new week of action, here are some of the key results from the last seven day stretch.

The Pistons could be one of the more up-and-down teams of the NBA this season. The had a 5-1 start, and have since progressed to a 7-6 record to land 10th in the Eastern Conference. That sounds pedestrian, and in fairness, it is. However, with performances such as a win against LeBron James’ Cavaliers, they’ve shown that they can always be a threat to cause an upset with a guy like Andre Drummond to power them forward.

It’s been four weeks, and Drummond has still been able to average extremely impressive career-highs in points (18.4) and rebounds (17.8) per game. He’s simply dominating the paint against everyone, and the Cavaliers found that out on Tuesday night as he went off for 25 points, 18 rebounds and 3 steals. He helped the Pistons win the rebounding battle 48-40 and paint scoring 48-40, and with the support of his young point guard Reggie Jackson (23 points, 12 assists) and Ersan Ilyasova’s four threes and 20 points, the Pistons took a surprising win. And as the Cavaliers only scored 18 points in the fourth quarter and had several sloppy plays and poor shots to try and take a late lead, the Pistons managed to hold on.

When the Clippers jumped out to a 41-25 lead after the first quarter, it looked like they had a genuine chance to upset their rivals and defending champions. Chris Paul torched their defense and finished with 35 points, but the Clippers’ lead slowly dwindled as the night went on. The Warriors started heating up, and as Doc Rivers remained far too loyal to Jamal Crawford and Paul Pierce, they were simply no match defensively for the champs. Crawford and Pierce played 39 and 31 minutes respectively, while the rest of the Clippers’ wing players were extremely limited and Lance Stephenson never even entered the game. Which, seeing as neither of them were making shots either, was a poor call by Doc.

Stephen Curry got going and finished with 40 points while Andre Iguodala, Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes all came up big in the second half while making key shots to win the fourth quarter 39-26. The Warriors shot 11-of-15 and went 8-of-9 from three in the final 12 minutes, and there was nothing the Clippers could do to stop them. So while Golden State deserve credit for pulling off such an impressive comeback, the ignorance of Doc to play weak defenders and L.A.’s overall lack of mental toughness late in the game made matters easier for Curry and Co.

Kevin McHale was fired within hours of this loss to the Celtics, and it essentially summed up the Rockets’ season so far: disappointing. Nothing has clicked, Ty Lawson hasn’t fitted in yet, James Harden has been terrible, and they’ve lost many games against lesser opponents that they should have won. They now stand at 12th place in the West with a 5-9 record, and games such as this are the reason why.

The Celtics have been a pleasant surprise for their fans so far. Their ball movement and stellar perimeter defense so far have allowed them to go 7-6, while defeating tough opponents like the Thunder, Hawks and the not-so-tough Rockets. However, this game was just as much of an indication of how bad things are in Houston right now. Harden only had 16 points, Dwight Howard barely got involved with 4 field goal attempts, Lawson had little impact with just 7 points and 5 assists, and the Rockets allowed 39 points off turnovers after giving up the ball 22 times.

It’s not surprising they now rank in the bottom four in the NBA in both offensive and defensive efficiency, and they should be praying that interim head coach J. B. Bickerstaff helps things improve. Because that looks like the only way they can salvage the first few months of their season.

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